At this moment, except for Lakyus, Tia, and Tina, who hadn't witnessed Riezel's battle with Brain, everyone else began to understand why Riezel's swordsmanship was so strong, yet he was also described by Gazef as a skilled magic caster.
Seeing the destruction caused by Riezel's Fireball, everyone couldn't help but wonder—could Fireball actually unleash that kind of power?
Why could a 3rd-Tier Magic like Fireball exert such power?
Fireball was indeed a wide-area offensive magic, but its power shouldn't have been that great for a mere 3rd-Tier Magic.
Riezel's Fireball, however, would easily be on par with 5th-Tier Magic or even 6th-Tier Magic.
What was 6th-Tier Magic?
It was a magic tier already considered legendary.
Looking at all the countries that existed, only one person could use magic spells of that tier, while the others could only manage up to the 5th Tier, including Lakyus, who had stepped into the Realm of Heroes, and Evileye, someone who surpassed human limits.
Yet, Riezel had managed to cast 3rd-Tier Magic with the same power as 6th-Tier Magic.
'Could it be Talent?'
Lakyus and the others started to think this way.
Just like Martial Arts, 'Talent' was a unique, native power found only in the natives of this world and didn't exist in YGGDRASIL.
Talent was essentially a special ability people were born with, and it appeared in certain individuals with a certain probability.
For example, among humans, about one in every two hundred people had a Talent.
Given this, Talent was not particularly rare in this world, as even in a small, unknown village of a hundred people, it wasn't unusual for someone to have it.
However, while Talent wasn't rare, it varied in strength, and some of them were more useful than others.
For instance, some people had a Talent like 'being able to predict the weather tomorrow with 70% accuracy', but unfortunately, in this kind of world, it was almost completely useless.
Talent was an innate ability that couldn't be chosen or changed, so there were many cases where even someone with Talent still ended up leading a regular life, sometimes even working as a farmer in the countryside, completely unable to leverage their Talent to rise above their circumstances.
In other words, even if someone was born with a powerful Talent, whether they could use it effectively was still uncertain.
A simple example was someone who had an amazing Talent that could boost the power of their magic, yet lacked the ability to learn magic.
What could they do in that case?
Nothing.
If someone couldn't take advantage of their Talent, then that Talent would effectively be useless, with no way to make use of it. Simply put, while Talent wasn't rare, very few people could make good use of it.
Among those present, several were actually Talent holders.
Lakyus, Evileye, and even Brain all had Talents, with Evileye's Talent being particularly strong, even changing her life entirely.
However, Evileye's Talent couldn't be used effectively right now, and Lakyus's Talent was of a type that didn't have much presence on a daily basis.
Brain, on the other hand, didn't even know he had a Talent, which showed just how rare it was to find someone who could use their Talent well.
Riezel's situation, in the eyes of those present, seemed to be one of two possibilities—either he had some special racial ability like those of other races, something that could enhance the power of his magic, or he had a Talent that greatly increased the power of specific magic.
Since humans generally didn't have racial abilities, the first thing everyone thought when they saw Riezel's magic was that he must have a Talent that significantly boosted the power of particular magic or even raised the tier of specific magic.
As they watched the alley charred black by Riezel's Fireball and the monsters stunned by its power, everyone's minds remained unsettled.
Riezel had no idea what the others were thinking at this moment, but one thing was sure—seeing the monsters suddenly stop, he didn't plan to hold back. If anything, it seemed like he wanted to settle things once and for all, so he intensified his attack.
"Triplet Maximize Magic - Fireball."
Casting Fireball once again, Riezel extended his fingertip before three massive fireballs quickly began to expand and take shape.
Upon closer inspection, these three fireballs were even bigger than the previous one, large enough to dwarf a small one-story building.
Thanks to this, the intense flames completely illuminated the alley and even rose high enough to be seen from other parts of the royal capital, bright enough for the citizens in the surrounding areas to easily notice.
At the same time, Lakyus and the others were bathed in the firelight, their skin flushed from the heat as they felt the temperature around them steadily rise, their faces growing stiff with discomfort.
In their minds, only one thought remained.
'It looks like we'll easily pass this obstacle.'
===
As everyone had imagined, the battle, when Riezel showed a bit of his capability, quickly came to an end.
With the endless barrage of massive fireballs shooting out one after another, whether it was Vampire Bats, Vampire Wolves, or even the slow-moving Lesser Vampires, they all ended up as nothing but burned charcoal in the explosion, repeatedly consumed and blown away by the flames.
In the end, even the monsters had a hard time leaving behind a complete corpse, and along with them, the surrounding buildings were also incinerated.
Not only had the alleyways become completely ruined, either scorched black or blasted into huge craters as if they had been ravaged by artillery fire, but nearby buildings had either collapsed or been bombarded with holes, almost turning into half-wrecked ruins.
"Hey... there shouldn't be any civilians around here, right?"
Lakyus, having recalled her Floating Swords, couldn't help but voice her concern as she looked at the entire scorched area, staring at the ruins of the buildings.
It was clear she was starting to worry, fearing that there might be innocent civilians living in them.
"If there were people in those buildings, they'd be doomed already. They'd definitely be caught in the blast, and it'd be a miracle if anyone survived." Brain shrugged and expressed his thoughts.
"Brother Riezel, you really went overboard, didn't ya?" Gagaran protested.
Hearing this, Evileye, Tia, and Tina quickly spoke up in Riezel's defense.
"It should be fine. I don't sense any living auras nearby."
"Same here."
Tia and Tina, the twin assassins, seemed to have confirmed the area with their abilities, speaking with certainty in their voices.
"You know, even if there are civilians living here, they probably aren't good people. Otherwise, Eight Fingers wouldn't have made this area their hideout."
Evileye spoke while tugging at the hood on her head.
Upon hearing their words, Lakyus thought about it carefully and then nodded.
"You're right... this is their hideout, so there probably aren't any ordinary civilians around. If there were, the weird stuff going on here would've been noticed, and word would've gotten out, blowing the whole thing."
Indeed, Eight Fingers was ultimately an underground criminal organization. Even though many nobles were involved with them, offering protection and support, they would never bring their criminal activities into the open.
Considering this, it was impossible for innocent civilians to be living around this area. If anyone did live nearby, it was likely they were somehow connected to Eight Fingers.
People like them, whatever happened to them, deserved it, so there was no need to worry about their lives.
With such a thought, Lakyus finally put her concerns to rest and turned to the others.
"Is everyone okay? Any injuries? Do you need to rest or get healed?"
Lakyus's question was met with a series of headshakes.
"We're fine, not even a scratch."
"We're in perfect condition."
"I mean, we didn't even join the fight. How could we have any injuries?"
Tia, Tina, and Gagaran spoke one after the other.
"I was protected by Lord Brynhart—didn't get hurt at all." Brain shrugged his shoulders, seeming completely at ease.
"My magical energy wasn't depleted much. I don't need any rest." Evileye said while glancing at Riezel.
It was all thanks to Riezel's amazing display of power that she hardly had to make a move. Furthermore, with the enemies being forced to retreat in panic by him, they had no time to focus on her.
As a result, her magical energy consumption had been minimal, so her condition wasn't affected much.
Earlier, it was only Riezel who had used a lot of offensive magic, casting extraordinary Fireball again and again, which must have cost a fair amount of magical energy. At least, she thought that if it had been her, she would have already burned through nearly 90% of her magical energy and would be struggling to keep up the fight at full strength.
Considering this, if Riezel needed to rest or recover, she wouldn't be surprised at all.
However, she had no idea that Riezel, with his highest rank development ability, Spirit Healing, had an automatic magical energy recovery rate far beyond what she could imagine.
He had never experienced a situation where he ran out of magical energy to the point where he needed rest, so let alone 3rd-Tier Magic, even if he repeatedly cast 10th-Tier Magic or Super-Tier Magic, it wouldn't require him to rest or recover.
In other words, the little bit of consumption from continuously casting Fireball was nothing to Riezel since 'Spirit Healing' was always there to make up for it in a flash.
As a result, Riezel's condition was even better than that of Evileye and Lakyus, who had used up some magical energy. Even when compared to Gagaran, Brain, Tia, and Tina, who hadn't participated in the battle at all from the start, he was in a more perfect state.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Riezel said calmly as everyone looked at him. "Even if my magical energy runs out, I've still got my sword, so I won't lose my combat ability."
He reached down to touch the sword at his waist, making everyone look at each other in surprise.
""Monster...""
Tia and Tina immediately blurted out, voicing their thoughts about Riezel. Even though the others didn't say anything, they were probably thinking the same thing.
'Rigrit might be right... He's really special and could have a huge impact on this world...'
Lakyus silently thought to herself as she gazed at Riezel, who appeared completely calm as if what he had done earlier was just a casual walk in the park.
In her eyes, Riezel's power was truly on a whole different level.
Whether it was his swordsmanship or magic, both were far beyond human understanding—his strength was definitely beyond anything that a normal human could compare to.
She herself also used a sword since she was a templar, but at her core, she was a magic caster, as her true strength lay in magic. If it were just about swordsmanship, she wouldn't even be able to compare to Brain or Gagaran.
However, Riezel was different.
As a warrior, he could hold off a full-force strike from Brain with just two fingers, and even the mere act of drawing his sword made Gagaran's and Evileye's instincts shudder in fear.
He was so powerful that even Warrior Captain Gazef, who was known as the strongest warrior, always praised him.
As a magic caster, he was said to be able to use 5th-Tier Magic, which proved his magic expertise was already in the Realm of Heroes.
From his performance earlier, he also seemed to have a Talent that could make a 3rd-Tier Magic like Fireball reach the destructive power of a legendary 6th-Tier Magic, which was enough to shock even someone like Evileye.
Before Riezel appeared, Lakyus had always thought the strongest humans were probably outliers like Rigrit or the Imperial Court Wizard of the Baharuth Empire, who could use 6th-Tier Magic.
No choice.
Considering those two were existences above the Realm of Heroes, even if they fought someone like Evileye, they wouldn't be without a chance of fighting back, which was why they were considered the strongest humans.
However, that was what Lakyus had thought in the past, since now she believed that the strongest human alive was the young man standing before her—Riezel Brynhart.
'If Sir Brynhart goes all out and is really as powerful as Gagaran and Evileye had heard, where the shockwaves from his battle alone could reshape the terrain of the northern forests of E-Rantel and were enough to scare Brain Unglaus so badly that he'd lose all his fighting spirit... what kind of level would he be at?'
'Above the Realm of Heroes? No, surely more than that...'
'Could it be... the same level as... Dragon Lords?'
Lakyus was shocked by her own thoughts.
Dragon Lords were the strongest beings in this world, not just the most powerful among humans, but the most powerful among all races.
It was said that even the Thirteen Heroes couldn't reach the level of Dragon Lords, and only the Six Great Gods and the Eight Greed Kings could rival them.
Could Riezel Brynhart really be on par with the legendary Six Great Gods and the Eight Greed Kings?
At this point, Lakyus didn't dare think any further.
Riezel didn't give Lakyus any more time to think either, as amid her thoughts, he finally spoke up.
"Let's go. Let's check out their hideout and finish this as soon as possible."
Upon hearing this, everyone pushed aside their mixed thoughts and nodded.